"You know, it's been a while since I've seen you in class, Ryan. You 'been doing okay?"

Nicolas, Ryan's friend since childhood, was right back to pestering him, which meant that the illness he had been facing recently was obviously being taken care of. Both of the men were young adults, of average build, and had no outstanding characteristics apart from Ryan's relatively obscure eye colors, of which one was of a deep, golden hue, and the other a milky emerald green with an outer rim that faded out to pink. For years, Ryan had wondered about the origin of his eye colors, as he had never known his parents.

"You know full well why I haven't been in class, Nic. If you'd loan me any money to pay for the rest of the semester, I'd probably be in there with you."

"I can't do that, Ryan. I don't know where you think that money would come from..."

{He's right, so why am I blaming him? It isn't his fault that-]

Nicolas stopped abruptly. Ryan watched him, fearing that he had maybe hurt his friend's feelings.

"Nic, I'm sorry. I know you weren't the reason for..." No response. "Nic?"

And suddenly, the world was plunged into darkness. Ryan watched his very surroundings become a black void, devoid of any sense of depth or light at all. He screamed. Nothing. There was not a sound that could pierce through the thick blanket of shadow that had covered everything. He felt something heavy hit his right leg, and jumped back in fear. When he recollected himself, he took a step forward and began to feel around for the object that had hit him, eventually palming what felt to be a human body. Pulling the object close enough for his eyes to almost be touching the surface, finally allowing him to have a slight visual on what he was holding, he confirmed his suspicions and recognized an unconscious Nicolas, his eyes closed and face contorted in some sort of apparent duress. Ryan, completely uncaring of the possible consequences, while also secretly promising himself to relish in and never forget what he was about to do, began to pull back his hand to slap Nicolas.

"NICOLAS!"

At the peak of his arm's drawback, Ryan began to feel a small amount of cool energy surge from the center of his palm. He hesitated, continuing to hold his arm back to observe this unknown feeling. With the world being covered in darkness and all, he was ready to begin believing that he had somehow become a magician of sorts and wouldn't want to risk accidentally laying a mana-infused instant-death slap onto his best friend. After about three seconds of hesitation, Ryan stopped having second thoughts and started to bring the smack down.

BANGGG

About ten centimeters away from the surface of Nic's skin, Ryan's hand slammed into a barrier of some sort that shone purple when its surface was hit, creating a small shockwave that actually began to push away at the darkness surrounding the two men.

USER has learned SKILL: Force Manipulation|

"What? Who was that? NIC!"

There was no answer, but Ryan was sure he had just heard a voice from somewhere. It didn't sound like any voice a human could have; it was melodic, more like a song than actual speech, and its gender couldn't be determined from voice alone as it seemed to go in between both male and female registers within the same word.

Ryan raised his hand again, hoping to feel the cool energy he had felt earlier coming from his hand, and, to his surprise, actually felt it. This time, however, he felt that he felt more of the energy being released from his hand. Not only that, but he also felt that he could sense the energy trailing up to his hand from the center of his wrist. Ryan slapped down his hand again, this time with his target being what he hoped, but could not see, was empty air in front of him.

BANG

Again, a small shockwave was created that began to slightly push the darkness out of the way. Ryan raised his hand again, almost enjoying himself now that he assumed to have what he had only seen in comics and movies before, a super power.

Wrong. You are weak.|

"There you are! Show yourself! Who are you?"

Ryan slammed his hand down in the direction of the voice, this time one that seemed to stick to a male register. He was terrified, honestly.

{What in the hell is going on? Is it finally apocalypse day?}

Not quite.|

SYSTEM NOTICE: STATISTIC DISTRIBUTION WILL COMMENCE…|

STATS|

Name - Ryan Ashra|

Grade - Unawakened|

Level: 1 (0/100)

Strength - 12|

Agility - 9|

Constitution - 7|

Additional statistic modifications may be made available if USER completes AWAKENING|

SKILLS|

Rank 0: Force Manipulation (Basic: 6%)

The Empty One has taken notice of your eyes|

{Wait… What the fu–}

Sleep.|